Author
Topic: separating frozen chicken? (Read 31714 times)

lovinAZ

DH and I buy large packages of chicken breasts and consume them over a few weeks. Chicken was on sale, so we bought a big package (7 or 8 breasts). Normally, we'd separate them and put them in their own little tupperwares before freezing, but we didn't for a small variety of irrelevant reasons.

Anyone know how we can get these things apart without defrosting the whole bunch? It's not good to defrost and refreeze, but we're not going to eat 7 breasts before they go bad in the fridge, either.

ZipTheWonder

I dont' think you want to expose these to much heat, otherwise you'll have rubber chicken when it comes time to cook them. I'd let them sit out for just a few minutes, and then just use whatever tool looks like it would work to slip between them and pry. I think the screwdriver sounds like a good place to start.

Psykogrl

While its not great to thaw and refreeze, you can to some extent. I partially thaw out the chicken (so that the centers are still frozen) with running, cool water.

Put the chicken in your sink and turn on the cold water so it runs over it. If it fits into some kind of container, like a bowl or pot or pan, then even better cause its the movement that does it.

(Caution: Mr Wizard Moment ) The running water creates a convection current, which even in cold water moves energy around in it, which thaws the chicken faster and without bacteria growth that warm water does

lovinAZ

I'm going to try to separate them with cold water (I would butcher myself with a knife or a screwdriver!!!!), and if they thaw too much for my liking, then we'll just cook 'em all up into various meals and freeze!

While its not great to thaw and refreeze, you can to some extent. I partially thaw out the chicken (so that the centers are still frozen) with running, cool water.

Put the chicken in your sink and turn on the cold water so it runs over it. If it fits into some kind of container, like a bowl or pot or pan, then even better cause its the movement that does it.

(Caution: Mr Wizard Moment ) The running water creates a convection current, which even in cold water moves energy around in it, which thaws the chicken faster and without bacteria growth that warm water does

Thank you for posting this! I knew it was true that cold water would thaw chicken faster than warm water, but I didn't know why. Now I do!